Assignment Code: BPAG-174/ASST/TMA/2022-23

Course Code: BPAG-174

Assignment Name: SUSTAIANBLE DEVELOPMENT

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Total Marks: 100

Assignment A

Answer the following questions in about 500 words each.

1. Discuss the economic components of sustainable development. 20

Ans) After the second half of the 20th century, when most countries had won their independence from imperial powers like the UK, Japan, Spain, and Germany, development became one of their main concerns. Economic development was a popular policy goal all over the world, and as a result, a new field called development economics grew out of it. It was mostly about the social, economic, and political problems that come up during development. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Human Development Index (HDI) have both gone up in most countries around the world (HDI). But Africa has also seen some growth that was not good. Development has cost a lot, including damage to the environment, people being forced to move, and the loss of cultural and traditional heritage. The economic gains have been lost because of the high costs to the environment and society. People are now becoming aware of these bad effects of progress, which has led to protests in many places around the world. Pressure on business and government has caused them to rethink policies and strategies that could lead to sustainable development. Let's look at the following things to try to understand the economic side of sustainable development:

Exponential Era

Climate change isn't the only environmental problem we have to worry about in the 21st century. Because the world's population is growing so quickly and so much, problems will only get worse over the next 30–40 years. If there wasn't enough water, food, or money, ecosystems, species, and the state of the oceans would be in danger. Especially in the financial world, the 21st century is a time of fast change. Even small things that happen in one part of the world can send the world economy into a freefall or a boom that nobody expected. When oil prices change a lot, it throws economies into chaos.

Role of Industry

Large private businesses have the ability in technology, know-how, finances, and politics to help make sustainable development happen, and they can be a big part of that. They have the ability to put people to work who can come up with sustainable ways to make goods and services. The more sustainable choices people have, the more likely they are to choose them. They can come up with ways to keep their businesses profitable and help the ecosystems stay alive. One of these is corporate social responsibility.

Economic Sustainability

A system that is economically sustainable must be able to keep making goods and services in order to keep government and external debt at a manageable level and to avoid extreme sectoral imbalances that hurt agricultural or industrial production. From an economic point of view, sustainability can be thought of as the maximisation of welfare over time. Human welfare includes having enough food, clothes, a place to live, a way to get around, transportation, health, and education services, and so on. This definition reduces the idea of economic sustainability to a single-dimensional indicator that can be measured, even though it is much more complicated than that.

To keep the same level of yield, you can limit the number of resources you use. The money made from using up non-renewable resources must be put back into natural capital that can be used again. This would help keep a steady amount of natural capital on hand. Another way to look at it is as a trade-off between economic growth and the loss of natural resources. Goods are made from natural materials, and these materials are made back by natural systems. It uses "green financing," which means that governments use new ideas, reorganise important sectors, speed up existing environmental plans, and so on.

2. Describe the policy innovations that can be envisaged in pursuit of sustainable development. . 20

Ans) Power hierarchies, institutions, culture, and politics are all deeply connected to the problems of growing inequality and unsustainable ways of making and using things. Reforms and political action are needed, and they can be summed up in the nine groups below:

Strengthening public finance at all levels

To make public policy more flexible, changes need to be made to fiscal policies, among other things. In other words, in order to reach the Sustainable Development Goals, governments need to make Sustainable Development Budgets. Both the income side (tax policy) and the spending side (budget policy) of fiscal policy need to be kept up. Governments can use proactive tax policies to fund environmental and social policy goals and meet their human rights responsibilities at the same time. This includes, for example, taxing the extraction and use of non-renewable resources and putting the rights and welfare of poor and low-income people first through progressive taxation (e.g., by emphasising taxation of wealth and assets).

Eliminating corporate tax breaks (like tax holidays in export processing zones) and phasing out harmful subsidies, especially in industrial agriculture and fishing, fossil fuels, and nuclear energy, can give the government even more room to make fiscal policy. Spending on the military should go down, and the money saved should be used for other things, like preventing civil wars and building peace. If the priorities are set right, fiscal policies can be a powerful tool to reduce socioeconomic inequality, end discrimination, and speed up the change to more sustainable ways of making and using things.

Public expenditure for the expansion of productive capacities

On the spending side, it can be hard to figure out which goals are most important and how they should be met. It can also be hard to find the right balance between different goals. As shown in several Sustainable Development Goals, the social pillar of sustainable development calls for a large increase in public spending to improve health care, education, and social security. From the point of view of speeding up economic growth, spending more on infrastructure and public services that help productive activities is a must.

Also, public procurement can be a big part of growing and improving industries and services at home. Giving priority to locally made inputs when the government buys things can make a big difference in the growth of sectors that are important for structural transformation. Lastly, different types of subsidies can help build productive capacities and speed up structural change by changing the way producers' costs are set up or giving them access to essential inputs.

Better use or creation of new legal instruments

The huge difference between what governments promised in climate change agreements and what they have done so far has led to a new way to hold them accountable. In the last few years, there has been a big rise in court cases that try to get governments to change their policies on climate change. Since 2015, climate change cases have been filed in Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand, UK, Norway, India, Colombia, and the USA. These cases argue that the government's climate change policies are not good enough.

Litigation is also being used more and more as a way to make corporations take responsibility, especially in the fossil fuel industry. As the effects of climate change become more obvious, it is likely that the number of successful cases will rise in the coming years. This will make lawsuits a more effective way to get people to act on climate change.

Assignment B

Answer the following questions in about 250 words each.

3. Highlight the important principles and features of sustainable development. 10

Ans)

Principles

A few components of sustainable development, which are important are as follows:

Conservation of Ecosystem

The main goal of sustainable development is to protect the resources of the earth. It is to keep the ecosystem in balance. For this purpose and goal, it is important to protect ecosystems, including aquatic ecosystems.

Sustainable Development of Society

As the number of people grows, so does the demand for goods and services. Society can only last as long as people have a safe place to live, a healthy diet, good health care, a job, and a good education. People need to be able to get good health care and a good education.

Conservation of Biodiversity

It is important to make sure that all living things on Earth are kept safe. To protect natural resources, people should learn how to use them in the best way possible. Both the Global Biodiversity Outlook in September 2020 and the Living Planet Index (LPI) of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in September 2020 call for drastic and immediate action to stop biodiversity loss and restore ecosystem services before it is too late.

Features

1. In order to meet the goals and scope of sustainable development, these steps must be taken when planning for economic growth. Some of these steps are:

2. reducing the amount of Greenhouse Gases that are released into the air, which directly contribute to global warming and air pollution.

3. Putting more focus on eco-friendly practises like building green architecture.

4. Focusing on projects that use renewable energy sources like the sun, wind, water, etc. and putting them into action.

5. Keeping natural resources safe while respecting and protecting the natural homes of living things; and

6. Keeping the rate of consumption from going faster than what can be made from renewable sources.

4. Write a note on the concept of global commons. 10

Ans) "Global Commons" is a part of the more general idea of "Commons," especially when it comes to resources. So, to understand the idea of global commons, you need to first understand what a common is. Now let's look at what "Commons" means:

Exclusion is the ability to keep other people from using something. For example, it's easy to keep people from using a private swimming pool, but it's harder to keep people from using a village pond or a city lake.

Common property resources are also sometimes called "common pool" resources. In the case of resources, the word "property" refers to a group of rights, such as the right to use, exclude, extract, or sell the resource. Property rights can be owned by one person, a group of people, like a community, or even a country. International commons or global commons are the very large commons that are not controlled by any one country. But there is a small difference between global commons and international commons. International commons are places where more than one country shares resources, like the Mediterranean Sea (shared by different countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Malta, and many others). On the other hand, global commons are areas with resources that all nations have legal access to, such as outer space. So, Buck says, it's important to know the difference between the two, especially since some countries are left out of international commons but not global commons.

5. Describe the meaning and impact of climate change. 10

Ans) Changes in the Earth's climate and their bad effects are something that most people worry about. Climate change is a big problem for the whole world. Since the 1970s and 1980s, the average global temperature has been going up quickly. This has made climate change a global issue. People have had a big impact on climate change, but the changes are happening much faster and are much more dangerous than people thought. Climate change is a change in the long-term averages of temperature, precipitation, circulation, and other factors that make up the climate. This change can be local, regional, or global. It is seen as a global issue because the rise in temperature and the environmental effects that could come from it don't respect the borders that the Nation-States have set up.

As the economy has grown, so has the amount of coal, oil, and natural gas burned. More and more coal, oil, and natural gas are being burned by factories, power plants, cars, and homes. This has caused a lot of carbon dioxide (CO2) to be released into the air. This is the biggest source of Greenhouse Gases, which can trap the infrared radiation from the earth in the atmosphere and cause global warming. There are six different Greenhouse Gases, and they are very different in how much they contribute to global warming. They take in some of the infrared radiation (heat) that is leaving the Earth, which makes the atmosphere hotter. Since these gases have the same effect on a greenhouse's heat loss as glass, they are called "Greenhouse" Gases. Greenhouse gases come from many different places.

Assignment C

Answer the following questions in about100 words each.

6. What is status quo approach? 6

Ans) Supporters of the status quo believe that there is no need to make any big changes because there are no problems that can't be solved. Even though there needs to be change, which can be done by making adjustments, there is no pressing need to change how decisions are made or who has power (Hopwood, et al., 2005). This is based on the fact that people tend to stick to what they know and don't like to change. The lock-in mechanisms that the current systems use to keep things stable are another thing that contributes to the status quo. It's hard to choose between options when the benefits of an ongoing activity keep growing. This is called inertia.

7. Write a note SDG 11: Sustainable cities and Communities. 6

Ans) Through its different schemes, missions, programmes, and initiatives that are in line with SDG 11, the Indian government promotes inclusive and sustainable urbanisation. It also wants to build the skills needed for planning and managing human settlements in a way that is participatory, integrated, and sustainable. The National Urban Transport Policy focuses on sustainable transportation that is good for the environment and new ways to get around without a car. To promote sustainable transportation, the Sustainable Urban Transport Project is also being used in a few cities. Cities are being made more resistant to disasters, and building codes are being used to save energy. Pradhan Mantri Awasa Yojana (Urban Housing) makes sure that slums are redeveloped right where they are, that there is a credit-linked subsidy scheme, and that the private sector is involved. By the end of the Financial Year 2019-20, 3.2 million of the 11.2 million homes that are needed will have been built.

8. Briefly discuss on Earth summit 1992. 6

Ans) The UNCED was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is also known as the Earth Summit, the Rio Summit, and the Rio Conference. Treaties, political declarations, and action plans are just some of the important things that have come out of these talks (Cruickshank et al., 2012). Here's what they are:

1. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development is a political statement of environmental and development principles.

2. Agenda 21 is a plan for putting sustainable development into action.

3. Statement of Forest Principles: An authoritative list of principles that does not bind anyone.

4. A Multilateral Treaty: The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

5. A Multilateral Treaty is the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

9. Explain the concept of food insecurity. 6

Ans) Food insecurity is when there isn't enough food because of financial problems. When this lack of food gets bad enough to cause physical symptoms, this is called hunger. Over the years, people's ideas about food insecurity have changed to include not only temporary problems with not enough food at the national level, but also long-term problems with not enough access to food and unfair distribution at the individual and household levels. Most of the time, chronic food insecurity happens over a long period of time. This happens when people can't get enough food to meet their basic needs over a long period of time. The main reasons for this are low incomes and continuing poverty.

10. List out the functions of trade unions in India. 6

Ans) The Supreme Court of India has said that collective bargaining is a way for disagreements about things like working conditions to be settled peacefully and without force. During this process, the employer and the employee negotiate and talk about working conditions. Collective bargaining is a way for workers to solve their problems. Collective bargaining is the basis of the movement, and it is in the interest of workers that trade unions and their ability to represent workers have been recognised by the law. Trade unions protect workers from wage changes and help them keep their jobs in a peaceful way.